04/14/2023
I wanted to take a few moments to thank my friends and colleagues, teammates at work and in life, for the last 6 years of support throughout the endeavor at CHNOLA to create the Safe Trach Program. In creating a physical environment and cultural platform for safety with tracheostomy care here, we have all had the opportunity to see the average age for decannulation reduced from 9 years to 3 years. We have moved from 1 decannulation every 5 years to 15-20 per year for 4 years running. We have had the rewarding opportunity to help the inpatient rehab program send children home tracheostomy-free. We have watched our NICU graduates with bronchopulmonary dysplasia learn to feed, walk and talk at 3 instead 6-10. We have seen our children graduate faster from their G-tubes with less oral aversion.
This could only be possible with the collaborative efforts of Speech (Laura Oddo), Respiratory (Shawna Sisung), Dentistry (Dr. Fournier), Pulmonary (Abby Walker and Dr. Swetland), GI and Nutrition (Alysse Baudier) and Cardiology (Dr. Brumund). These clinicians have helped us in Otolaryngology to optimize the patient care so we can make tracheostomy management decisions in a timely fashion that are supportive of our patients. I am so proud of the work that our Nurse Practitioners, Kaitlin Hastings and Carlyn Franckiewicz, do and are capable of doing for these patients, making sustainability a real possibility. I think we should all take great pride in these accomplishments and the team member dedications to the patients. And I want to thank everyone for their contributions.
It has been with heavy heart that I have already seen it naturally fit for the program to begin to step aside for the next phase at CHNOLA, but it is with great joy that I watch this program here take off to independence.
It is no small decision I have made, therefore, to accept the invitation to bring the same level of care and dedication to another pediatric center in need. This June, I will leave the work here in these excellent hands, and I will begin the next chapter in my life as the Chief of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Nemour’s Children’s Hospital in Orlando, FL. I am honored to have had this opportunity to contribute my efforts and energy here in New Orleans and to the next place in need.
